Everything has a Price
by Makami
Summary: How far would Edward go to have his brother's and his own body restored? There is only one known person alive who knows how to, without the Philosopher's Stone, but there's a reason why she's wanted...
1. Chapter 1

Please be kind when reading and reviewing this. It's my first time trying a FMA fanfiction, and I only just got into the series this week. This is only a short bit, but most likely all of the chapters will be small because I'm only doing this for fun.Once or twice a weekI'm going to write as much as I can, and call that a chapter. Bad me, I know.

**Warnings**: Rape, torture, lemon(yaoi and straight)... most of which will be written badly, onec I get there.

**Disclaimer:** No, I don't own FullMetal Alchemist. If I did, this wouldn't be a fanfiction and no one would be allowed to read/watch it.

**Everything has a Price**  
_Chapter One, What is your price?_

"Edward Elric... correct?"

Edward sat up in his bed, rubbing the back of his head lazily. Past the thick shadows in the room, and his eyes still blurred due to being half asleep, he could barely make out the figure dressed in white that stood at the end of his bed. He blinked once, then twice, in an attempt to focus his eyes. It worked, slowly, though for some reason there was still a strange haze around the edges.

"Who... 're you?" he asked, slurring his words together just a little.

The woman smiled softly. "So you are him, then? Just as I expected..."

"Huh? Expect...ed?" He shook his head. It was so hard to concentrate on what the woman was saying. He voice sounded so far away, echoing in the hollows of his mind.

"Edward, what's your price?"

Okay. He really wasn't following her now. _Price...?_

She giggled, and stepped closer towards the window that was a few feet away from his bed.

"You're price of freedom, of course, Edward," she explained. Her voice was condescending, as if he should have understood exactly what she meant without the explanation.

"My price of freedom?" he repeated, sounding as confused as he was. "I... Huh?"

She was gone suddenly. He glanced frantically about the room, but there was no sign of the woman in white. There was no one, but Alphonse laying on the other bed across the room.

He sighed heavily, muttering under his breath before laying back down, "I must be dreaming..."

* * *

Edward's eyes fluttered open. He was laying in his bed, in the hotel room. The curtains were drawn, leaving the room darkened. Only a faint light from outside managed to filter in, though even that seemed dark and grey in its own way. He could hear the soft pitter patter of rain striking the window.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position and sighed. A quick glance around told him that that Alphonse wasn't in the room, but that didn't panic him. He knew that his brother had plans to go out, anyways, to the city's generallibrary for some studying. They had been supposed to go out together, but he must have overslept and Alphonse left without him.

Another sigh escaped him. "What a strange dream," he mumbled, recalling the woman in the white dress. "Who was she...?"

_"Edward, what's your price?"_

He sat up straight, staring at the window that she had walked towards. In his dream she had, anyways. Now there was noindication that anyone had been in the room. If there had been, he was sure that no one would have let him sleep in so late. Especially not Colonel Roy Mustang. No, he probably would have made some sort of comment that would have provoked the golden haired teen from his sleep by calling him small.

His eye twitched at the thought.

Edward swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached over for his clothes. He was running late. Alphonse was probably being a"good little brother" and was waiting patiently at the library for him, even if people looked at him strangely because of the armour he was in.

"I should get going," he decided with yet another small sigh. He wasn't looking forward to having to run in the rain, and better yet, he was still tired. It was a great start to the day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Everything has a Price**  
_Chapter Two, "Nothing at All"_

Edward quickly slipped on his jacket and boots and was out the door in less than three minutes. He was three hours late because he had slept in. Would his brother still be waiting for him at the library? Somehow he doubted it. At least, he never would have waited that long. He would have come back to the hotel room and created a scene, scolding his brother for being so irresponsible.

A smirk touched his lips.

Alphonse? Irresponsible? That seemed hardly possible. His brother was probably one of the most responsible people that Edward had ever met, surpassing most of the adults he had ever known in all of his life. If anything, it was Edward that was the irresponsible one. But even then, Alphonse seemed only to look up to his brother. He didn't scold him, even when he was irrational. That was one of the things he loved most about his younger brother.

Edward skid to a halt, eyes widening. He turned around andretraced his steps until he came back to an open grocery shop. Inside there was a young woman, dressed all in white. Her longblack hair was a flowing curtain around her, framing her delicate face perfectly.

_She looks like... that woman from last night,_ Edward thought, staring at her in shock. Almost immediately he forgot that it was raining, and that he was in a rush. _But that's impossible..._

"I'd like to purchase these," the woman said softly. She put a fair-sized basket on the counter in front of the store owner.

"What are you looking at?"

Edward jumped suddenly. He spun around to face a man, who was not too much older than himself. He had shoulder length black hair that was lazily tied back, and pale grey eyes that seemed to be clear. They were the sort of eyes that just seemed to be able to gaze at a person, and see more than they should have; they could see deep into a person's heart, know things about themat a single glance than most people would. He wasn't dressed richly, but then again, he wasn't wearing clothing for a poor man. They were simple. Something that wouldn't be easy to spot in a crowd. His height helped with that, too; he was barely an inch taller than the blonde, at best. Except for his eyes, he didn't appear to be anyone special.

"Uh.. n-nothing," Edward stammered, peeking at the woman from the corner of his eye. She was paying for her groceries now. "Nothing at all."

"I should hope so," the man said. He placed his hand on his hips. He looked over to the woman and called out,"Satsuki-san, are you done?"

"Uh-huh!" she cheerfully replied.

Edward shook his head and walked away. _That was strange,_ he thought. _She looks just like that woman from my dream._

_"Edward, what's your price?"_

_Price...?_ he wondered. _Does something like freedom even have a price?_

* * *

"Oniisan!" 

Edward was abruptly jarred from his thoughts of the woman dressed in white by his younger brother's voice. He blinked, and peered at all of his surroundings. He was suddenly aware of the fact that he was finally at the library, dripping rain water onto the carpet flooring. He smiled sheepishly when he noticed the glare that the librarians were giving him.

"Oniisan..." Alphonse gave a sigh that rang through his metallic body. "Why didn't you grab an umbrella?"

* * *

Yes, it's me again. No, I haven't given up. I hope that you enjoyed it, Angel/sasukegirl... and whoever else might be reading this. 


	3. Chapter 3

Well, well, well... look who finally got off her lazy butt and wrote this chapter? More thought that I wanted went in to the last half of this story. Of course, I wrote it by hand and it was all in one shot... and it counts as the end of my writer's block. Eheh heh. I hope that people like it.

**Everything has a Price  
**Chapter Three, "Don't act like that"

"Why didn't you grab an umbrella?" Alphonse asked with an annoyed-sounding sigh. He couldn't change his facial expression, but Edward knew that a glare was what he was missing.

"Eheh heh heh..." Edward rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Um... well... there wasn't one?"

Another annoyed sigh came from his younger brother.

"I... I didn't need one," Edward laughed. He started walking towards his brother, when he noticed all of the children surrounding his brother. All looked to be around five to eight years old, laughing and playing and having fun.

His eye twitched.

"Al... why did you want to come here today?" he asked, his voice suddenly low and tired.

It was Alphonse's turn to laugh nervously. He turned to the children that surrounded him. "It's a buddy reading day. I thought that it might be fun..."

"Fun...?" He said the word as if he didn't understand what it meant. "Fun? Al, we have more important things to get done. We're supposed to be studying--"

Something tugged on his pant leg. He glanced down and saw her, a sweet little girl with big green eyes and flaming red hair. She wore a pink dress with matching shoes, and her hair was tied back with, yet again, a pink ribbon that matched her dress and shoes. She smiled up at him with the sweetest smile any child could have.

"Wead dis for me?"

Edward's eye twitched. The little girl was so sweet that he couldn't bring himself to tell ehr to just go away. No, he was not that cruel. She was just a sweet little girl. He'd be heartless to even think of doing that. Besides, he was already here, so why not go along with his brother's plans? He sighed heavily, and plucked the book from the girl's hand. He gazed over the title of the book. It was The Three Little Pigs.

Oh joy... he thought, forcing a smile on his face. "C'mon, let's go find a place to sit down."

* * *

"...The third little pig was too clever for him... The end!" 

It took quite a bit of effort from Edward not to jump to his feet and run out of the library. He had just finished reading through The Three Little Pigs for the fifth time that day. Something about the way that he read it seemed to fascinate all of the little kids, and they swarmed around him, demanding that he read it to them next--or again, as the case was sometimes.

"Alright, children!" the librarian that seemed to be in charge of the buddy reading announced cheerfully. "Time's up for today! Your parents are here!"

The children all jumped up, buzzing with excitement. Their loud and bubbly chatter blurred together until all that could be heard were a few words that managed to struggle above the hum of the other voices. Edward remained on the floor, with the book in his hands. He watched the children as they left with their parents. They were smiling and laughing, excitedly telling their parents about the stories that they had gotten to hear that day.

Edward gave a little smile as he watched them. He was vaguely reminded of himself and Alphonse when they were that young; after hearing some new tale they would go to their mother and tell her all about it. They would retell the tale to her, making sure to emphasize all of their favourite parts, or just the parts that seemed to catch her attention the most. Now, looking back on it, he knew that it was silly. Their mother always acted as though it was he first time hearing those stories, even though she had heard them all before. She indulged them in their excitement.

The parents that had come to pick up their kids now were doing the same thing.

"Oniisan," Alphonse called softly to his brother as he walked up behind him. "We should get going now, too."

Edward glanced up at his younger brother with a grin and nodded. "Sounds good. I'm starved!" he declared.

His declaration was conveniently followed by his stomach growling. For the first time since he had woken up that day he realized that he hadn't eaten yet. With the kids holding on to his attention, he had just been too busy to think about that. Now that he had nothing to do it was really hitting him. He was getting hungry.

"Mmmnn..." he moaned as he stretched his arms casually over his head. He then pushed himself to his feet and said, "I left my money back at the hotel room, though. We're going to have to go there first. Al."

His brother gave an audible, ringing sigh. "Oniisan..."

Edward grinned at him again."I know, I know... Don't give me that."

"Fine," his brother sighed again. He turned around and headed for the front entrance. "I'll meet you outside, then. You have to put the book away."

"Oh... okay." It was his turn to sigh. Makes sense, I guess... Even though I didn't pull it out, I used it.

When he had first discovered his brother's plans for the day, he had been irritated. They had much more important matter to deal with. They had to find the Philosopher's Stone, had to restore their bodies to their original forms. Playing with children had nothing to do with that. Maybe one day, when they had the time to fool around, it would be okay, but at the moment, it could only be a waste.

Or so he had thought.

As he read to the children, he remembered the times that he had played with Nina. It was relaxing. For the first time in months he got the chance to take a break and do something that was normal. This had nothing to do with being a National Alchemist, nothing to do with wars or death, or fighting the Homunculus, or trying to track down where the red stones were coming from and how to make them. He'd enjoyed it.

Edward made his way through the maze of bookshelves until he found the section for Fairy Tales. His eyes scanned over the section as he attempted to locate where it was, exactly, that the book was supposed to go.

"Edward... Elric..."

Edward gasped and spun around, dropping the book in the process. His eyes widened in shock. It was the woman in white. She stood at the far end of a bookcase near him, staring back at him with a small smile. Half of her body was hidden from his sight, but all he needed to see was her face to know exactly who she was. She was the woman from his dream the night before. And he was certain that she was, though she looked a great deal paler now, that she was also the woman from the shop.

"You..." he began, but stopped when he failed to come up with anything else to say.

The woman in white took a step back. She cast her eyes shyly to the ground. She looked nervous, or scared. Either, or both. He couldn't tell.

"Who are you?" he demanded, using all of his will power to sound calm. She seemed a little skittish; he did not want to scare her off. "What do you want with me?"

She did not reply to his questions, but backed away a little more. "Scared", came to his mind again. She was definitely scared of something. But what? Him?

He did not care about the "what" or the "why".

"Hey, you're the one following me, so don't act like that!"

No, that was not true. He did care about those things.

"What do you want...?" he repeated himself.

She smiled a little, sweetly, tilting her head to one side in an attempt to look cuter. "I just wondered if you could tell me yet," she finally said, before disappearing behind the bookcase.

Edward growled lowly. She wanted to know? What? What did she want him to tell her? What exactly was it that she wanted to hear from him?

_"...your price..."_

He stared hard at the place where she had been standing. Something was going on, and a feeling in his gut told him that he was not going to enjoy it.


End file.
